


5.29.17

by martianwahtney



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Gen, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Lives, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark gets all the love he deserves, Tony Stark-centric, he's pretty much their dad leave me alone, it's fine when Tony goes into the workshop later that day all the bots are wearing party hats, lmao Rhodey is always awesome, love that AI, unfortunately I was unable to add in Dum-E I am ashamed but he loves Tony so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 04:39:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martianwahtney/pseuds/martianwahtney
Summary: Tony doesn't want to celebrate his birthday. Rhodey does.





	5.29.17

May 29th. His 47th birthday was getting closer and closer. Tony didn’t want to think about it. That absolutely did not stop his best friend in the slightest.  
  
Rhodey bullied Tony out of his lab for the afternoon. Tony knew what his best friend was up to, he was trying to get Tony to partake in some kind of birthday celebration. Tony really didn’t want to. But Rhodey knew just how to convince him otherwise.  
  
“It’s not every day you have a birthday, Tones,” he said.  
  
“Sugar plum you know I don’t like my birthday,”  
  
Rhodey rolled his eyes.  
  
“I told you in college, so long as I have some kind of say in it, you’re never spending another birthday on your own,” Rhodey said.  
  
Tony felt a smile tug at his lips, for the most part Rhodey had kept his promise.  
  
“So what do you have planned for me?” Tony asked, resigned to let Rhodey do whatever he wanted to do.  
  
“A surprise,”  
  
Tony frowned but nonetheless followed him through the Tower. He kept his gaze on the prosthetics Rhodey wore. They seemed to work very well. Rhodey was still doing physical therapy and Tony was hopeful that one day he would be able to walk without assistance, but until that day came, the prosthetics were doing their job.  
  
The first surprise of the day turned out to be a picnic on the balcony of Stark Tower. Rhodey had used some of his mom’s recipes. Tony loved Mama Rhodes’ cooking. On that thought, Tony also love Mama Rhodes in general. She was a force of nature.  
  
After lunch Rhodey dragged Tony out of the Tower. As much as Tony whined about being away from all his projects he always liked getting out of the Tower. The fresh air was nice, and Rhodey was always the best company.  
  
Rhodey took him to an astronomy museum. Contrary to popular belief, Tony still loved space. He was glad he didn’t die in it, but he wasn’t afraid of it. It was vast and never ending and the best part was the aliens! Tony had always been a firm believer in the fact that there was no way they could be alone in the universe, and both fortunately and unfortunately he had been right about that.  
  
“Alright Tones, it’s time to get back,” Rhodey said after a few hours in the museum.  
  
“Is it?” Tony asked.  
  
“Yep,” Rhodey said.  
  
He was smiling in a way that let Tony know that he was in for _another_ surprise.  
  
“What else do you have planned honey bear?” he asked.  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rhodey replied in a tone that suggested he knew exactly what Tony was talking about.  
  
“The betrayal!”  
  
Rhodey let Tony complain and whine the whole way back to the Tower, the smile never faded from his face.  
  
_Fresh air and really good company_ , Tony mused, his own smile just as bright as Rhodey’s.  
  
Rhodey made Tony close his eyes while they were in the elevator. Tony, albeit reluctantly, did as his best friend told him. When they reached the penthouse suite, Rhodey led him from the elevator and through the suite.  
  
They stopped suddenly and Tony heard a lot of whispering. He couldn’t figure out who the voices belonged to.  
  
“Ok, you can open your eyes,” Rhodey said.  
  
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!”  
  
Standing in the living room was all his friends. Pepper, Happy, Vision, Peter and Harley. Harley tripped Tony up a bit because he was pretty sure the kid lived in Tennessee and also he looked like he was almost 18 which was weird considering he was only like 10 the last time Tony saw him.  
  
When _was_ the last time Tony saw him?  
  
“I told my mom I wanted to look at colleges,” Harley explained with a smile.  
  
“I’m not looking at colleges,” he added before Tony could say anything.  
  
Tony managed to put on a disapproving expression before he tried and failed not to smile.  
  
“Unbelievable! You were such a smart kid too. All that potential… wasted,”  
  
Harley laughed at that.  
  
“Are you trying to guilt trip me?”  
  
Tony laughed, actually laughed in way that he hadn’t in almost a year. The party was in full swing after that. Tony got to catch up with all his favorite people. Harley and Peter seemed to have the most to say.  
  
“How’d they get you here?” Tony asked Harley.  
  
He hadn’t really told too many people about the kid, in fact it was really on JARVIS who really knew what happened with Harley. Against his will he looked at Vision, wondering if he had anything to do with this, but Vision didn’t remember much about being JARVIS.  
  
“If I may, sir-” and that was as far as he got before Tony very nearly forgot how to breathe.  
  
The voice that had spoken was not FRIDAY. It wasn’t any of his other AI’s, and Vision certainly hadn’t said a word. That could only mean…  
  
“JARVIS?” he asked quietly.  
  
“Hello sir,”  
  
Tony looked up at the ceiling and tried to pretend like he wasn’t seconds away from bursting into tears. He shakily placed his hand on Harley’s shoulder and squeeze for just a moment. He could feel the smile stretched across his face and it ached. It was real. This was real. His baby was back.  
  
“How?”  
  
In the end it was Vision who did it. With the help of T’challa they had successfully pieced JARVIS’s code back together from the scattered bits that Vision remembered. It had took the better part of a year and it had been hard work, but more than worth it judging by the look on Tony’s face.  
  
“Missed you buddy,”  
  
That night they were all seated in the living room eating the cake that Happy brought. Tony looked around at all his friends and felt something warm unfurl in his chest. These people weren’t just his friends. They were his family.  
  
Harley and Peter were sitting with each other, massive pieces of cake on their plates. They were talking excitedly with each other. Tony couldn’t hear much of their conversation but he was glad his boys were getting along.  
  
“... I came back to the barn to find that dad’d replaced _everything_ with a newer version! I didn’t know what to tell mom!  
  
“Dad’s always doing that- have you seen my suit?”  
  
The boys leapt up and rushed out of the room with nothing more than a shout of ‘bye dad!’  
  
“What? Who’s ‘dad’? Am I ‘dad’?” Tony whispered to Rhodes.  
  
Rhodey looked over at him and grinned.  
  
“Yea Tones, you’re dad,”

**Author's Note:**

> posted to my tumblr  
> prompts are open  
> [here](http://www.anthonystarhk.tumblr.com/)
> 
> ((ok I wanted to add this in but forgot cause I'm a mess ok Harley already found a college he wanted to go to don't worry my good and pure kid is going to college))


End file.
